Brothers
by PirateOwl
Summary: In the aftermath of "The Brothers Jones", David and Killian have a conversation they both need about their brothers and about about why David is there in the Underworld. This is my contribution to the one year anniversary of Captain Charming Friday on Tumblr.
David walks back into the room. "I'm glad you found each other and everything," he says, more loudly than necessary. Emma and Killian break off their kiss. "But could you please not be doing that every time I walk into a room?"

Killian gives him a sheepish smile and Emma rolls her eyes.

"Consider this catch-up for the fact that you never had to deal with me as a teenager. And payback for you and Mom True Love's Kissing every chance you get. Besides, I had to put up with so much worse from you after Mom and I got sucked to the Enchanted Forest, and neither of you were even dead for that."

"I didn't actually come here to interrupt," David admits. "I came to get you because Regina is planning on doing some sort of spell to warn us if Hades is approaching and she wants your help with it."

She almost pulls Killian along with her, but eventually lets go of his hand after giving him another quick kiss. David is sure he is obligated, as a father, to object. He doesn't.

"Emma told me your brother moved on," David says as she leaves the room.

"Aye. I wish you had a chance to meet him under better circumstances."

"Well, I'm told he is a bit like me," David says. "But that can't be right. I mean, I wouldn't know anything about making a bad decision to protect your family, then lying through your teeth when the Queens of Darkness… er… the lord of the Underworld shows up," he adds with a grin.

Killian smiles. "Your family can be quite understanding."

"Well, we should be. Snow and I have made our mistakes, and besides us there is the Evil Queen, ex-Dark Ones… It's not like this family is in any position to throw stones at people who do the wrong thing for love."

"Thank you," Killian says quietly. "I know now that Liam made his mistakes but he practically raised me."

"And Emma thought she would have been difficult as a teenager," David says with a snort. He has a sudden pang of imaging, wondering what life would have been like if he had been able to raise Emma and had been forced to deal with her and Killian as teenagers. He thinks he might have dodged a bullet with that one, but still…

"Aye. He practically raised me after our father…" Killian trails off with a frown. It isn't the first time David has wondered about Killian's father. He has never heard the man mentioned before.

"What about your brother?" Killian asks, and David doesn't miss the deliberate change of topics, the slightly too cheerful tone. "I understand he is here in the Underworld."

"Yes," David says. "That's complicated. I found out that he resents me for being the one who got to grow up in a loving home, but that was from talking to someone who knows him. I still haven't met him yet."

"Have you tried?"

"Not exactly."

"You should," Killian says. "If you don't, you'll regret it when we get out of here, especially if you don't know if you might be able to help him move on."

"He's a thief…"

"And a liar. I remember. And my brother was a good and honorable man, but that wasn't all he was. Besides, I was a thief and a liar once, and I'd like to think you don't consider that all that I am."

"Well…" David hedges, but smiles. "We wouldn't be down here if it were."

"Thank you." Killian says. "For coming down here. For saving me. I… wasn't in the right frame of mind to be properly appreciative before. But I am now. So thank you."

"You didn't think we were just gonna leave you down here," David objects. It's not just Emma who didn't want to do that.

"Given that that is literally what every single other person does with dead people, I rather did. Besides," he adds, with a self-deprecating smile. "It was your best chance to be rid of the pirate with the audacity to court your daughter."

David shakes his head. "I seem to recall someone saying i would be crazy not to approve of you. And that was before you literally died for her."

"Quite a bit before," Killian confirms with a smile.

"I'm sure you know the story of me and Snow, the evil queen, the poisoned apple, the kiss…" David waves his hand to encompass the whole traditional version of their tale.

"Aye," Killian says, but it sounds more like a question.

"Well, people are so used to how it ends, True Love's Kiss, happily ever after, they don't often stop to think about the particulars. They don't think about what it was like to find her like that. She was in that coffin, and so still, and she was cold." That is what happens when people are left outside in the snow in simple dresses, but that detail still haunts him sometimes. "And I had tried True Love's Kiss before, when there was a memory spell, and it had failed, so I really believed, for just a moment, that I was too late. And I had never been that lost." He blinks so Killian won't see the unshed tears at the memory. "On the lake… The truth is, that's what I saw in Emma. So I'm not doing this out of any nobility," he says with a grin. "I'm doing it for Emma."

"Thank you," Killian says with a soft smile.

David claps him on the shoulder, not quite a hug, but close. "Besides, I did kill you that one time. I figured it was only fair that I get you back from being dead. Just this once. Don't get used to it. Next time you die, you're on your own."

"I can live with that," Killian says with a grin.

"You'd better live with it."

"You're trying to distract me," Killian says. "You have the chance to talk to your brother, David. Take it."

"When did you get so wise?" David asks. He's not looking forward to talking with James, but he knows Killian isn't wrong.

"Very recently," Killian says with a smile. "Talking to my brother helped."

David rolls his eyes theatrically. "Fine. I'll go talk to my evil twin."

"You should bring backup, Mate, in case he is actually evil."

"Backup is probably not such a bad idea, and it's not like I want Snow around him again."

"Aye. My brother wasn't perfect, but at least he didn't try to put the moves on my lass."

David laughs. "It's a good thing I'm bringing you along. I might try to kill him otherwise."

"Wait, you want me to come along?" Killian asks. "I mean, I don't mind but I kind of thought… your long lost brother and all… I thought you might prefer to bring family."

"That's what I'm doing," David says. "Or do you think we storm the Underworld for just anyone?"


End file.
